Morning Brief: All eyes on the US GDP report

What to watch today

To cap a busy week for corporate news, investors will be greeted by the week’s most important economic report. And that is the first look at second quarter GDP. Wall Street economists are forecasting the U.S. economy grew at an annualized pace of 4.2% in the second three-month period of the year, more than double the rate seen in the first quarter. This would mark the best quarter of economic growth since the third quarter of 2014.

Zuckerberg loses more than $15B in record Facebook fall: Facebook Inc. (FB) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune took a more than $15 billion hit on Thursday, as the social media company suffered the biggest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history a day after executives forecast years of lower profit margins. [Reuters]

Starbucks sales and earnings beat expectations: Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) reported a slight beat in its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. For the third quarter, Starbucks reported adjusted earnings of 62 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimates of 61 cents. Revenue for the quarter came in at $6.31 billion versus estimates for $6.26 billion. [Yahoo Finance]

DOJ probes TV station owners over ad sales: The Justice Department is investigating whether television station owners violated antitrust law in ways that inflated local television advertising prices, according to people familiar with the matter. The probe has examined whether Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., Tribune Media Co. and other independent TV station owners coordinated efforts when their ad sales teams communicated with each other about their performance, potentially leading to higher rates for TV commercials. [The Wall Street Journal]

SEC will not approve Winklevoss bitcoin ETF: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday stood by a decision blocking an exchange-traded fund that would have tracked bitcoin, citing concerns about market manipulation. The securities regulator found “unpersuasive” arguments that the bitcoin ETF proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers who founded crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co LLC, would be sufficiently protected from manipulation. [Reuters]

U.N. honor guards carry small boxes containing remains believed to be from American servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War after they arrived from North Korea, at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Friday, July 27, 2018. Ahn Young-joon/Pool via Reuters